1. Field of the Invention
The present teachings relate to an in-vehicle infotainment network. In particular, a hybrid in-vehicle infotainment network may have one or more hybrid nodes, each of which may have a relatively high-speed interface and one or more relatively low-speed interfaces for transporting data, including, but not limited to, audio data and high definition video data.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
One existing in-vehicle infotainment network for transporting audio data and/or video data is essentially an analog network. As a result, the in-vehicle infotainment network has a number of discrete wires for each signal and large and heavy harnesses for holding the discrete wires in place within a vehicle. The in-vehicle infotainment network is incapable of streaming High Definition (HD) video because a digital transport is required for High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) compliance.
Specialized buses have been added to the existing in-vehicle infotainment network to improve performance. Each time a new type of bus is added, a number of gateways in the in-vehicle infotainment network may increase because the new type of bus may use messages and communication protocols not currently used in the existing in-vehicle infotainment network.
In many cases, existing hardware of the in-vehicle infotainment network must be changed to accommodate new hardware. The new hardware may use more bandwidth than the in-vehicle infotainment network is presently capable of providing. In such a situation, existing hardware and/or software may be modified to accommodate new types of buses. As a result, the in-vehicle infotainment network may become confused and motley, thereby making further development difficult, error prone, and slow.